C-076 is a series of macrolides with potent antiparasitic activity. The compounds are isolated from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces avermitilis and the morphological characteristics of the microorganism as well as the methods employed to isolate the C-076 compounds are fully described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 772,601.
Based on taxonomic studies, the microorganisms capable of producing these C-076 compounds are of a new species of the genus Streptomyces, which has been named Streptomyces avermitilis. One such culture, isolated from soil is designated MA-4680 in the culture collection of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey. A C-076 producing sample of this culture has been deposited in the permanent culture collection of the Fermentation Section of the Northern Utilization Research Branch, U.S. Department of Agriculture at Peoria, Illinois, and has been assigned the accession number NRRL 8165. A sample of NRRL 8165 has also been deposited, without-restriction as to availability, in the permanent culture collection of the American Type Culture Collection at 12301 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20852, and has been assigned the accession number ATCC 31,267.
The above microorganism is illustrative of a strain of Streptomyces avermitilis which can be employed in the production of the C-076 compounds. However, such description also embraces mutants of the above described microorganism. For example, those C-076 producing mutants which are obtained by natural selection or those produced by mutating agents including X-ray irradiation, ultraviolet irradiation, nitrogen mustard or like treatments are also included within the ambit of this invention.
One example of such an organism is a strain of Streptomyces avermitilis MA 4848 which was isolated after irradiation with ultraviolet light of Streptomyces avermitilis MA 4680. A lyophilized tube and a frozen vial of this culture has been deposited in the permanent culture collection of the American Type Culture Collection, and they have been assigned the accession numbers 31272 and 31271 respectively. Slightly higher fermentation yields of C-076 have been obtained using this frozen stock as inoculum.